Improvement in addressing-machines



A. max. ADDRESSINGrMACHINF-S.

No. 195,209. Patented set.1a,1a77.

UNITED STATES- PATENT *OFFIcE.

.ALEXANDER DIGK, BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT .IN ADDRESSING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,209, dated September 18, 1877; application filed May 12, 1877.

To all whom z'tmay concern Be it known that I, ALEXANDER DIoK, of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and .State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Addressing-Machines, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had ,to the accompanyin g drawings.

This invention relates to that class of mailing-machines which .cuts ,ofl'theaddresses from a web of the same, and affixes them to newspapers or other articles. 1 Its object is to supply a mailer that may be worked by either hand, having its handle placed over its center ofgravity; in which, also, by means of new devices, the feeding, cutting, and stamping processes are more sure and easy than heretofore found in mailers. V

Figure 1.is a perspective view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is va top plan view with the handle removed. Fig. 3 is a bottom view-of the slideway. Fig. 4 is an edge view thereof. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section of the front portion of the handle.

The body of the machine A D. Fig. 1, may be ten inches in length; ,and for its various uses I employ and recommend the following form: The rear half A is rectangular, five inches long, .two inches wide, and two and one- "half inches high. This part is to hold the reeled web of addresses, aslshown in figure, andin its rear part has alconnection with the handle of the machine.

Thefrontnihalf of the machine D is three inches wide 5 for an inch or two in the near it is two inches high, and then lowers to about half an inch in front, where the cutters attach to it, as seen in the figure. In this part .is the usual paste-box.

The roller LO supplies the paste to the web. 1 suspend it in hearings in a frame, E, Fig. 2, which I place. in .a fixed position in the pastehox by means of the brackets l Zresting in bearings e s, so as to be easily removed at pleasure. I also so construct this frame that the undersurfaceof the web, as it passes off from the roller 0, will touch its upper front edge, and so be freed from superabundant paste. The same thing may be done .by :an attachment havin gsimilar position. The quantity of paste on the web is further regulated chine, and two or three inches above it, as

seen in the figure. To the handle proper there is a prolongation in the rear, which I prefer to have divided into two parts, it h, as shown in Fig. 1. It is conveniently made of hard brass wire. The two parts should branch out from the handle at a point a little .in the rear of the central .partof the machine; then, when two inches apart, let them extend back and curve downwardly until their ends, bent :in-

wardly atright angles, are sprung into bearings i z, about one inch from the bottom of the rear end of the machine, on each side of the same, as shown in the figure. Thus formed and placed, the double-wired attachment h h to the handle X allows the bobbin, with a full quota of web-addresses reeled thereon, to be placed in position with facility, and affords the necessary protection to the same during the process of addressing. It also supplies the necessary spring, in connection with the pitman, yet to be described, for the cuttingpressure to the stamping-blade of the cutters, and pivoted in i t it permits the motion of the handle before referred to.

The pitman Y, Figs. 1 and 15 is secured ina socket ,in the front endof the handle X in such manner as to have ;a motion transverse to the direction of the handle, and not glongitudinal thereto. The other end is bent inwardly at right angles, and sprung into an eye or bearing, 0, that is attached to the stamping-blade K at or near itscenter, as shown in Figs. Land 2. Itis now evident that by raising thehandle X the stamping'blade K will be raised, and vice versa; and with atproper adjustment of the parts the stamping-blade will have the proper cutting-pressure. But to afford increased facility for regulating this pressure, I addthe thumb-screws, which carries thesocket of the pitman inwardly, or withdraws it, on

the end of the handle, as shown in Fig.5.

To the front end of the handle, just behind the pitman, I also attach a propellingwheel, Z, Figs. 1 and 5, which is moved by the thumb of the hand that grasps the handle. From this wheel, by means of the endless cord or belt B, rotation is communicated to the feeding-roller R, Figs. 1 and 2, that is placed over and across the slideway of the web. This roller ispivoted at both ends, with a groove in the center for the cord to turn in as it com municates rotation.

It is well to have the surface of this feedingroller metallic on each side of the groove,and covered with little points or spurs, that shall lay hold of the web while feeding it into the cutters.

*To permit the roller R to be removed and.

replaced at pleasure, the thumb-screw N advances or retires one of its bearings.

It is necessary, in order to a proper feeding of the web by the feeding-roller, that it be pressed somewhat and steadily against it. To secure this condition I make the slideway M movable, with a spring or springs under its rear end, by which the necessary constant pressure is given to the web against the feedin g-roller.

The front end of the slideway rests on the edge of the stationary blade P, and is held in position by attached wires on each side, that dip into sockets. Figs. 3 and 4. show these springs and wires as attached to the slideway, where they are marked, respectively, 7' 1' and t t. When in position, the slideway rests its springs upon the front plate of the paste-box. The kind and form of spring, however, or even its exact position, is not important, if only the necessary result is secured. It is also possible to construct a slideway that should have the necessary spring in itself.

The cutters I employ are new and improved, asis also the manner of their attachment to the machine. I make the blades of thin steel, about one-eighth of an inch thick, and for the stamping-blade five-eighths of an inch wide, and for the stationary blade half an inch wide. I turn up about half the width of the stamping-blade at one end into an eye suitable to receive the bolt by which it is screwed to the other blade, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. I make the stationary blade a little longer than the stamping-blade, and, to secure attachment to the machine, I fit a socket thereto, '2), Fig. 1, into which the end of the stationary blade is slipped.

On the other side of the machine I attach an ear of thin metal, L, Fig. 2, through which the end of the shear-bolt is passed, and a nut, 11., screwed thereon holds the cutters firmly in position. This nut at the same time performs the function of a set-screw to hold the bolt immovably, while the machine is operated, in the stationary blade P.

The roller E keeps the Web down upon the paste-roller O, and that it may be adjustable thereto its bearings are pivoted, with some rigidity, at the points a a, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The reel-gage wires d d are formed and held in manner as follows: A tube their exact size is soldered along the edge of the middle plate of the machine in rear of roller E. Into this tube the ends of the wires, turned at right angles, are inserted, as seen atb b, Fig. 2. Thence looped parts W W, Fig. 1, rise up just behind roller E on each side the web of addresses, to which they are guides as it passes under roller E. Thence they pass back just under the spool of the reeled web, and their ends rest in sockets under the upper edge of the plate that.

forms the rear end of the machine.

By this construction and arrangement these gage-wires are readily adjusted to different widths of web, and :nicely fill the twofold function indicated. 4

F, Fig. 1, is a wire attached firmly to the handle X. Its lower end dips into an elongated socket on the side of the machine p, Fig. 2, and its use is to steady the handle when operated by an unsteady hand.

The extent of elevation of the stampingblade, while working, is regulated by the relative lengths of the pitman Y and the belt B. If it be desired to have greater facility in regulating this matter, then the pitman may be made adjustable as to length in any of the common ways known to mechanics.

A vertical motion of he handle X may be secured by its arrangement in vertical slideways; but for all purposes I prefer the plan heretofore described.

The operation of this machine is readily under stood: The paste-box being supplied with paste and everything in position, as shown in ,Fig. 1, then let the handle X be grasped by either hand, and raised till the weight of the front end of the machine gives tension to the belt B. At the same time the stamping-blade K is raised by the action of the pitman Y. Now, let the propelling-wheel Z be turnedforward by the thumb that rests over it, and, the belt B being in reverse position, rotation is communicated to the feeding-roller R, and the web moves forward into the cutters one address, under the eye and according to the will of the operator. Then, by depressing the handle, by the action of the pitman upon the stamping-blade, the address is cut off and impressed upon the article beneath to be addressed, and so continuously.

- I claim as my 'inventionv 1. A mailing-machine formed by the combination of the body AD, and the inserted and attached parts, viz.: reel-gage and webguides dd, web-depressing roller 0, pasterollerO, slideway M, with springs r and brackets t, feeding-roller R with central groove and metallic spurs, belt B, propellingroller Z, handle X with pivoted double-wire reel-guard h h, pitman Y with thumb-screw S, stampingcutter K, and fixed cutter I, when the construction and combination of all the various parts, singly and relatively, are in the manner shown and described herein. I

2. The gage-wires d d, having the loops W tached to handle X, as shown and described.

6. In combination with the pitman Y, cutter-stamp K, and blade P, the swiveled thumbscrew S.

7. In combination with the belt B, feedingroller R, and slideway M, the propelling-wh eel Z, journaled in open chamber attached to handle X, as shown and described.

8. In combination with the belt B and slideway M, the feeding-roller R, formed with a central groove and metallic spurs, as shown and described.

ALEXANDER DICK.

Witnesses EDWARD WILHELM, HENRY MONTGOMERY. 

